Scvppernong. 



DESCRIPTION OF VARIETIES. 



Scuppernong Hybr. 137 



call the Herbemont, the Catawba, and others. Each to 

 his taste." 



The Scuppernong grape was discovered by the col- 

 ony of Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1554, on the Island of 

 Roanoke, N.C., and the original vine is said still to 

 exist there, being over 300 years of age. In appear- 

 ance, wood, fruit, and habit, it is entirely distinct, or , 

 ' unique " as Mr. Van Buren calls it, saying: " There 

 is a resemblance between the V. Vinifera, Labrusca, 

 ^Estivalis, Cordifolia ; they will all intermingle, pro- 

 ducing hybrids, but none of them can ever(?)ibe crossed 

 with the V. Rotundifolia, which blooms two months 

 later than either of the foregoing varieties. The odor 

 of the Scuppernong when ripeYiing is delicious, and en- 

 tirely distinct from the nigger-stink of the Fox-grape 

 family." The growth of the vine, or rather the space 

 over which its branches extend in a series of years, 

 is almost fabulous. The bark of the Scuppernong is 

 smooth, of a grayish-ashy color, variegated with many 

 small, dot-like specks of lighter hue ; the wood is hard, 

 close-textured, firm , the roots white or creamy. The 

 leaves, before dropping in autumn, become of a bril- 

 liant yellow. 



Bunch or cluster consisting usually of only about 4 

 to 6, rarely more, large, thick-skinned, pulpy berries; 

 these are ripening in August and September, not all 

 at the same time, but fall off successively, when ripe, 

 by shaking the vine, and they are thus gathered from 

 the ground. Color yellowish, somewhat bronzed when 

 fully ripe. The pulp is sweet, juicy, vinous, with a 

 musky scent and flavor a delicate perfume to some 

 tastes, repugnant to others. The French wine judges 

 at the Congres held in 1874 at Montpellier, pronounced 

 all the Scuppernong wines there "fort peu agreable," 

 some even " d'un gotit desagreable." It has, however, 

 its warm advocates among American grape-growers, 

 as will be seen by the following, from a letter of S. I. 

 Matthews, of Monticello, Ark., written for this Cata- 

 logue : 



' The Scuppernong makes a splendid white wine ; 

 its fruit, though ordinarily deficient in sugar, is very 

 sweet to the taste, owing to its having but very little 

 acid. The saccharine deficiency may also be accounted 

 for, in a measure, by the fact that this grape has been 

 hitherto, for the most part, grown upon arbors, a plan 

 of training that more effectually than any other ex- 

 cludes the sunlight and heat from the fruit, which it 

 is the practice to gather by shaking down from the 

 vines, whereby a considerable proportion of but par- 

 tially ripe fruit is obtained. And yet, according to 

 some tests, the Scuppernong has registered 88 on the 

 (Oechsle) must scale, which would give 9 per cent, of 

 alcohol. 



' A. C. Cook, who was quoted in your Catalogue 

 (ed. 1875) as saying that ' the Scuppernong is deficient 

 in both sugar and acid, as it rates at about 10 percent, 

 of the first and 4 mills of the latter,' wishes to correct 

 this, as he found since that time its saccharine proper- 

 ties to range occasionally as high as 18 per cent., and 

 now thinks ' the Scuppernong is emphatically the grape 

 for the South.' Its juice is capable of being converted 

 into the finest of Muscatelle sweet wines, or in supe- 

 rior light dry wines." 



Mr. Matthews writes: "When it shall be planted 

 on dry south hill-sides instead of on low moist bot- 



toms ; when it shall be trained on trellises, where the 

 sun-heat, both direct and reflected from the ground, 

 shall bathe the fruit and foliage, instead of upon tall 

 umbrageous arbors through which the sun's rays can 

 scarcely penetrate ; and when only the perfectly ripe 

 fruit shall be carefully hand-picked, instead of being 

 rudely shaken and all berries that will fall gathered 

 and pressed together, there will be little, if any, lack 

 of sugar." 



" But, even admitting this deficiency, it is the only 

 demerit of this variety, and can be remedied either by 

 adding pure sugar to the must, or by evaporating the 

 water from a portion of the must and adding so much 

 of the resulting syrup to the other as is needed to 

 bring it up to the proper standard. Moreover, the 

 true Scuppernong is the most productive and reliable 

 grape for the south, and its cultivators plant therefore 

 mainly of the Scuppernong and its class (the THOMAS, 

 FLOWERS, MISH, TENDERPULP), and of other grapes 

 only a few, for variety or as'an experiment." 



Mr. Van Buren was evidently mistaken in suppos- 

 ing that Rotundifolia could not be hybridized with 

 any of the other specie*, as the experiments of Dr. Wy- 

 lie, of South Carolina, have proved. And it is an- 

 other, though an oft repeated mistake, that the Scup- 

 pernong will not unite with grafts of other species. It 

 is true that the Rotundifolia, imported to Southern 

 France as a grafting-stock, on account of its phyllox- 

 era-free roots, did not succeed there ; but several at- 

 tempts to graft French vines on the Scuppernong (also 

 on Tenderpulp and Thomas) were successful. The union 

 may not be quite as perfect nor of as long durability 

 as in other species with more affinity ; but the legend 

 of the anti-union character is dispelled as many other 

 viticultural and political legends. 



Scuppernong Hybrids. (See Wylie's Seedlings.) 

 At the meeting of the Am. Pom. Society held in Balti- 

 more, 1877, Dr. A. P. Wylie exhibited his remarkable 

 hybrids for the last time before his death; among 

 them, the fruit committee consisting of Chas. Down- 

 ing of N. Y., Robert Manning of Mass., Dr. John A. 

 Warder of 0., Josiah Hoopes of Pa., P. J. Berckmans 

 of Georgia, &c. noticed "a most promising and pro- 

 lific Scuppernong-hybrid (No. 4), from whose seedlings 

 valuable results may derive." Its originator, Dr. A. 

 P. Wylie, Chester, S. C., made of same the following 

 note, Aug. 10, 1877 : 



"Prolific Scuppernong Hybrid Xo. 4. Grows in 

 pipe-clay soil. Wood peculiarly slender, bears in clus- 

 ters at each of its joints, never rots or mildews. Bunches 

 medium, compact ; produced in wonderful profusion ; 

 berry round, greenish -white, pulp half - dissolving ; 

 much juice, sprightly vinous with a peculiar musky 

 aroma, unlike the Scuppernong; quality good. Matu- 

 rity middle of August." 



Solonis. A peculiar form of Riparia, somewhat 

 distinguished from the ordinary form by the longer, 

 sharply incised teeth of its foliage. Its home is proba- 

 bly in Arkansas ; it is not and never was known or 

 cultivated in this country, but is highly esteemed in 

 France as an excellent grafting-stock for the reconsti- 

 tution of their phylloxera-destroyed vineyards. (See 

 the foot note on page 18.) Of late it seems much sub- 

 ject to that French rot, the anthracnose. It is mainly 

 adapted for a moist sandy soil. 



